Theorising with urban China: Methodological and tactical experiments for a more global urban studies

Abstract

Despite global academic interest, the field of urban China continues to be dominated by exceptionalist theorising. Given that the unique properties of Chinese urbanisation present rich cases for an engaged pluralism in urban studies, we argue for theorising with urban China based on two methodological grounds: ‘thinking cities through elsewhere’ and conjunctural analysis. This opens space for mid-level theorisation, which has the potential to contribute to the revision of existing theoretical frameworks and/or create new starting points for analysis and conceptualisation between urban China and a wider range of contexts. We propose three tactics for mid-level conceptualisation with urban China cases: generating concepts through bespoke comparisons between cases in urban China and elsewhere; conceptualising from a single urban China case by placing two theoretical frameworks into conversation; and launching concepts developed from inductive research in urban China to develop novel analytical frameworks. We conclude by arguing that theorising with urban China can benefit from collaborative research across borders, with the need to include researchers who are deeply embedded in the field.

PEASANT MOBILIZATION, THE ‘LAND QUESTION’ AND SPATIAL EGALITARIANISM IN AN URBANIZING CHINA: A Genealogical Assessment and a New Research Agenda

“…The agenda thus advances ongoing debates on the relationship between revolutionary violence and the sustenance of durable authoritarian governance by demonstrating how territoriality is not an epiphenomenon of elite cohesion, a loyal coercive apparatus and the lack of alternative power centers: territorial reconfiguration was and will continue to be a constitutive aspect of this relationship (see also Lim, 2014a;Su and Lim, 2023). This explicit focus on territorial (re)configuration complements the innovative attempt of Teo et al (2023: 2) at 'developing understandings of an expanding and diverse world of cities and urbanisation processes' through a dynamic engagement with 'urban China'. As the preceding section demonstrates, a conjunctural understanding of 'urban China' as a heterogeneous entity requires a historical-geographical dimension that considers the extent to which the CPC-peasantry social contract is changing.…”

Migration and migrants in Chinese cities: New trends, challenges and opportunities to theorise with urban China

“…Compared to migration studies, there is considerably much less known about the fate of residents who have been resettled. In response, many recent studies have started to examine the post-displacement life of residents (Beier et al, 2021; Meth et al, 2023; Teo et al, 2023; Wang, 2020; Watt, 2022; Williams et al, 2022). Findings from post-resettlement studies reveal many similarities between migrants and resettled residents, such as the fact that both groups rely on existing social networks in their new destination area at first.…”

“…Due to the lack of sense of belonging and place attachment, both groups face the need to reterritorialize (Liang et al, 2023, this issue; Rogers and Wilmsen, 2020; Wang, 2022). The concept of reterritorialization, defined as ‘as a contested process carried out by different actors, including the state and resettled residents, in regaining territorial control and belonging over the new space they inhabit’ (Teo et al, 2023: 14), has recently been used to examine how both resettled residents and rural migrants adapt to their life in their destination area. In the case of Guangzhou’s urban villages, Liang et al (2023, this issue) find that there is little formal support in place to help rural migrants reterritorialize and instead rural migrants have to rely on themselves to adapt to their new home.…”

Positioning China’s state entrepreneurialism in structural coherence and multiple logics

“…Clarifying the position of state entrepreneurialism on the spectrum also helps respond to some critiques. The first is the potential exacerbation of Chinese exceptionalism in the way of theorising by state entrepreneurialism (Ren, 2021;Teo et al, 2023). The spectrum suggests that, despite recognising some fundamental differences between China and the West, the theorisation of Chinese urban development by state entrepreneurialism (Wu, 2017(Wu, , 2023a is comparable with Harvey's (1989Harvey's ( , 2005 theorising neoliberal urban entrepreneurialism in the 1970s Anglo-American capitalism (see also, Wu, 2023b).…”

“…The argument of ‘planning centrality’ (Wu, 2018b) was developed based on grounded studies and supported by enriched evidence, even in literature whose theoretical foci differ from state entrepreneurialism (Lauridsen and Zeuthen, 2022; Pearson et al, 2021; Zheng and Huang, 2018). Perhaps in this vein, state entrepreneurialism is critiqued as being inductively developed exceptionalist theorisation (Teo et al, 2023). As we will show later, the way of theorisation does not determine the position on the universalism-exceptionalism axis.…”